Gideon Mantell

Dinosaur Hunting

Baryonx walkerii

The first discovery of Baryonyx walkeri
was made by amateur fossil hunter William Walker in a Surrey claypit in 1983.
Walker discovered a 14inch claw, which led to the unearthing of the only known
skeleton of this large predatory creature

Since then, 2 more claws have been
found in the Niger Republic in West Africa, and another in 1996 on the Isle
of Wight

In December 1997, however, a store
of old fossils in the Isle of Wight Museum yielded a forearm of a Baryonyx.
These remains had apparently been unearthed decades earlier on the southwest
coast of the island, and had sat in a box in Carisbrooke Castle for a long time